Fresh on the heels of the release of Coursera's second annual Global Skills Index Report, Melissa and Mike break down what's new and noteworthy in the 2020 report . How has the Covid-19 pandemic impacted global trends in course completion on Coursera? What's new and emerging in the key fields of business, technology, and data science and how is the US stacking up on the global stage? It's a fascinating report on the emerging skills that are relevant to career growth, earning potential, resilienc...
Jul 23, 2020•35 min•Season 4Ep. 299
Dr. Stephen Kosslyn, President of Foundry College, returns to Trending in Education to discuss a new book he's been working on. The book has the working title of Active Learning in the Digital Age and covers the six key principles that drive active learning. The principles are deep processing, deliberate practice, incentives and consequences, dual coding, chunking, and associations. Join Stephen and Mike as they explore these concepts and how they can be applied to create great learning interven...
Jul 20, 2020•38 min•Season 4Ep. 298
Welcome to the second half of 2020. We made it to July. For this episode, Mike, Dan, and Melissa reflect on the year so far while tracking some of the more sensational stories that are breaking lately. Did Donald Drumpf hire someone to take his SATs? If he did, is that better or worse than Lori Laughlin paying for access to the USC Crew team? What do we think about Betsy DeVos's bookcases for her Zoom meetings? Or the administration's take on getting students back on campus and physically in our...
Jul 16, 2020•35 min•Season 4Ep. 297
UNC Greensboro Chancellor, Dr. Franklin D. Gilliam, Jr., joins Trending in Education to share his experiences leading a university with a long history of opening up access to higher education. Beginning as a women-only university in the late 19th Century, UNC Greensboro has since opened up to non-white students soon after to men. Dr. Gilliam has been Chancellor since 2015 and he tells the story of how he got the job and what he's been able to do since joining the school. UNC Greensboro has elimi...
Jul 13, 2020•53 min•Season 4Ep. 296
Liz Leiba, an education professional, teacher, and podcast host, joins Melissa and Mike to discuss her personal response to George Floyd's death. In response to this travesty, Liz has become much more active on LinkedIn and on her podcast, The Ed Up Experience , telling her personal story as a black woman in higher ed and the corporate world. Melissa and Liz share their experiences, how their perspectives have changed, and how going along to get along just doesn't cut it anymore. Liz is a powerf...
Jul 10, 2020•24 min•Season 4Ep. 295
Dr. Terri Givens, the CEO and Co-Founder of The Center for Higher Education Leadership, joins Mike and Melissa this week to explore her experience as a Professor, an Administrator, and now as an entrepreneur focused on transforming higher education. Terri tells the story of her academic career spanning Stanford, UCLA, University of Washington, University of Texas at Austin, and most recently Menlo College. Throughout her journey, she's advocated for the importance of teaching and providing facul...
Jul 06, 2020•42 min•Season 4Ep. 294
Dr. Mohanbir Sawhney, the Associate Dean for Innovation at the Kellogg School of Management, joins Melissa Griffith and Mike Palmer to explore how the traditional approach to Business School and Executive Education is ripe for disruption. As the McCormick Foundation Professor of Technology at Kellogg, Dr. Sawhney is launching and testing several varied and distinct approaches to providing business education both through the traditional two-year on-campus model and also through hybrid and online ...
Jun 29, 2020•41 min•Season 4Ep. 293
Elise Awwad, Vice President of Strategic Enrollment at DeVry University, joins Mike this week to explore how DeVry has been delivering proactive care as part of its educational philosophy for adult learners. We examine how they were able to respond to the twin challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and the civil unrest in response to the death of George Floyd. DeVry's long history of online learning along with a holistic approach provided the tools to respond to a tumultuous 2020. Elise shares her ...
Jun 25, 2020•25 min•Season 4Ep. 292
Warren Kennard joins Mike this week to explore the current state of affairs in educational technology. Warren has been working in educational technology for the past 20 years and is the Founder of ConnectEd and the Managing Director of the Cahoot Academy. After defining the distinctions between small private online courses (SPOCs) and massive open online courses (MOOCs), we dig into the importance of delivering people-mediated programs especially as the waves of automation and artificial intelli...
Jun 22, 2020•35 min•Season 4Ep. 291
Melissa and Mike begin with a frank conversation about how we've been responding to the Black Lives Matter protests and related civic and personal upheaval in the aftermath of George Floyd's murder in Minneapolis. What's the best way for organizations to navigate these tumultuous times? How should we think about acts of omission versus those of commission? How do we begin to lean into awkward conversations about race to begin to reach new levels of psychological safety, empathy and understanding...
Jun 18, 2020•44 min•Season 4Ep. 290
Vikram Baliga, host of the Planthropology podcast, joins Mike this week to talk about his experiences as a horticulturist, a science communicator, and a podcast host. Vikram expounds on what brought him to horticulture and how the importance of setting has meaningful ramifications to education. As we explore the origin story of the Planthropology podcast, Vikram provides insight into what it means to teach people how to appreciate the plants in their lives. Whether you're officially "Plant Peopl...
Jun 15, 2020•37 min•Season 4Ep. 289
We are deeply saddened by the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and many other black men and women at the hands of police. We plan to cover the emerging trends of civil unrest, increased awareness of race and social justice, and how this relates to learning, media, and future trends in future episodes of Trending in Education. For today's show, we're releasing an upcoming episode of Running It Back with Tarlin Ray and Mike Palmer where we break down Blackballed , the new Quib...
Jun 08, 2020•27 min•Season 4Ep. 288
As The Eurhythmics say, "sweet dreams are made of this." On today's episode, Ken Florence joins Mike for an expansive and imaginative exploration of lucid dreaming, something Ken's been drawn to since overcoming challenges with sleep paralysis earlier in his life. Ken is a musician and composer who created the original music for Trending in Education and its sister podcasts. We begin by discussing how there have been increased reports of vivid dreaming during the Covid-19 pandemic response citin...
Jun 04, 2020•32 min•Season 4Ep. 287
Brandon Jones returns to Trending in Education in his new capacity as CEO of Triad Behavioral Health to explore emerging trends for behavioral health professionals. How do the expansion of telehealth and the easing of HIPPA requirements impact the delivery of behavioral health services? As we see upheaval in many professions, what's the prognosis for behavioral health and what makes sense for folks curious about embarking on a career in mental health? What's the best way to understand the impact...
Jun 01, 2020•32 min•Season 4Ep. 286
Sharia Huda and Sean Dougherty join Mike for today's show as we explore the importance of accessibility to the thoughtful design of learning technology. Sean shares his perspective as an accessibility specialist with experience at Google and other large technology companies while Sharia adds her views as a former K12 educator and Ed Tech specialist with experience advising startups on this and other topics. How does Universal Design for Learning (UDL) help all users of a learning product? How to...
May 28, 2020•34 min•Season 4Ep. 285
Trending in Education partnered with Rohit Barghava and the Non-Obvious Company to host a Virtual Summit on the Future of Learning which we're releasing as today's episode. Join Rohit, Melissa Griffith, Dan Strafford, and Mike Palmer as we discuss what the future might hold for parents, learning professionals, and lifelong learners. In a wide-ranging conversation, we explore how our behavior patterns around learning and life have change in response to Covid-19 and how these pivots will likely pl...
May 26, 2020•54 min•Season 4Ep. 284
Tarlin and Mike run it back covering the final two episodes of The Last Dance , the epic sports docuseries from ESPN covering the 1990s Bulls. This week we cover the legendary battles with Reggie Miller. What can be learned from Reggie's mindset and competitive drive. Was the "Flu Game" actually the "Tainted Pizza Game" - we have some hot takes there. Tarlin talks GOATs, Mike talks conspicuous omissions, and we begin to synthesize what we learned over the 10 hours of The Last Dance . It's been a...
May 21, 2020•38 min•Season 4Ep. 283
Dr Bernard Bull, the President of Goddard College and the Host of EDU Futures Podcast, joins Mike this week to share his perspective and make a few predictions for the coming year. Bernard explains how he is using scenario-based thinking to plan for the possible futures for Goddard, a small alternative college in central Vermont. We discuss Goddard's unique approach to higher education and muse a bit on how new models will likely emerge from these tumultuous times.
May 18, 2020•48 min•Season 4Ep. 282
Tarlin and Mike are back to break down the penultimate Sunday of The Last Dance docuseries about Michael Jordan and the 1990s Chicago Bulls. What lessons can we take away from Scottie's decision to sit out the final 1.8 seconds versus the Knicks in 1994? What were the games like at the gym Warner Brothers built for Michael on the set of Space Jam? How could we forget the legendary series versus the 1996 Seattle Supersonics with Gary Payton, Shawn Kemp, and Detlef Schrempf? Are there lessons in l...
May 14, 2020•32 min•Season 4Ep. 281
As a Mother's Day Special, Mike is joined by Dr. Robin Naughton, his wife and mother of their son Matthew, to talk about the state of libraries and librarianship in light of the pandemic. Robin shares her perspective as a digital librarian and as an academic focused on user research and the user experience. We also delve into the role of the Academy in understanding public health in New York dating back to the pandemic in 1918 and up to the present day. Then we shift the conversation to talk abo...
May 11, 2020•35 min•Season 4Ep. 280
Mike and Tarlin are back to break down episodes 5 and 6 of the ESPN Docuseries, The Last Dance, as it chronicles the 1990s Bulls culminating in their final season together in 1998. This week we tackle the middle hump in the 10 episode series as we get to know the darker side of Michael Jordan. His rampant competitiveness and purposeful avoidance of political stands set the stage for a challenging bid for a "Threepeat" in 1993 and we get glimpses of the challenges Michael faced managing his celeb...
May 11, 2020•42 min•Season 4Ep. 279
Russell Glass returns to Trending in Education to talk about the broader state of behavioral health from his vantage point as CEO of Ginger, an industry-leading behavioral health app. Building on trends we've already been tracking around behavioral health, pre-coronavirus, Russell walks us through patterns of usage that mark a significant shift since broad stay-at-home and social distancing orders have spread across the globe. What can we learn from this data? How can an organization like Ginger...
May 04, 2020•30 min•Season 4Ep. 278
As a Bonus Trending in Education Extra, we're releasing the first of a series of shows on The Last Dance, the must-see ESPN docuseries on the final season of the legendary 1990s Chicago Bulls. Tarlin Ray and Mike Palmer dissect the first four episodes of the 10-episode series and draw relevant lessons to life, management, leadership, and team chemistry in the 2020s. We'll be back with more soon as we continue to Run It Back to review, critique, and learn from must-see TV like The Last Dance. We ...
May 03, 2020•35 min•Season 4Ep. 277
Ray Belli joins Mike for today's episode exploring the power of language and audio in the evolution of culture and human understanding. Ray hosts a language and etymology podcast called Words for Granted and he's also a founding member of the Lyceum team. We explore the dynamic nature of word meanings using a few examples from the King James Bible. From there, we touch quickly on Shakespeare and the notion of poetic license before concluding with some musings on how new audio formats like podcas...
Apr 30, 2020•23 min•Season 4Ep. 276
Mike welcomes Melissa Griffith and Dan Strafford back to the show to analyze Mary Meeker's new report that explores the new trends that are emerging in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. Which trends will remain and which will fade? How will organizations, schools, educators, parents, and learners grapple with the new normal? How might we adapt to thrive amid the widespread, pervasive sense of disruption and uncertainty? We discuss all of this as we digest and begin to synthesize the esteemed Mary ...
Apr 27, 2020•48 min•Season 4Ep. 275
Stephen Kosslyn joins Mike to explore the transformative power of synchronous learning as the world rapidly moves online. Countering the perception that online learning is asynchronous, Stephen outlines his experiences first as Dean at the Minerva Schools startup and most recently at Foundry College. In both cases, the curriculum and the technology that powers it is designed with synchronous and active learning as a central pillar in the instructional design. Stephen explains the power of teachi...
Apr 20, 2020•33 min•Season 4Ep. 274
On today's episode, Jenna Spinelle joins Mike to talk about civics, the gig economy, and the sudden shift to remote teaching. Jenna is a writer, instructor, and podcaster in higher education who recently launched a new course focused on teaching undergrads how to engage in the gig economy. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, she had to quickly shift from delivering the course face to face to teaching remotely. Jenna shares her experiences and perspectives on emergency remote teaching (ERT) as we dive ...
Apr 17, 2020•33 min•Season 4Ep. 273
Mike is once again joined by Tarlin Ray to talk about generational zeitgeists in light of the coronavirus pandemic. As two GenXers, we wonder what the global pandemic means to the oft-forgotten, former latchkey kids of the 70s and 80s. Then we explore the challenges faced by Boomers and Millennials before shifting to the rising GenZ and “Alpha” generations. What are the financial implications? Will this make generational differences seem more parochial and trivial as we all grapple with a shared...
Apr 13, 2020•43 min•Season 4Ep. 272
Mike and Dan break down our 2020 March Madness for Learning Trends tournament. We begin by reflecting on how crazy a month it was and by thanking all the frontline workers who are leading our response to the covid-19 pandemic. Then we talk through the trends that deserved more love while analyzing each successive round in our brackets. We then culminate the festivities with our takes on the Final Four, the Finals, and then announce the winner. And you know we get zeitgeisty along the way as we t...
Apr 10, 2020•28 min•Season 4Ep. 271
Mike is joined by Helen Lee Bouygues, the Founder of the Reboot Foundation, to discuss the research her foundation has published about critical thinking. We begin by exploring what drove Helen to found Reboot and why critical thinking is so essential to a healthy, relevant, and fulfilling life in these confusing times. Helen shares research into the adverse impact of social media use on understanding of the realities relating to the Covid-19 pandemic and provides tips and tools for parents who a...
Apr 06, 2020•40 min•Season 4Ep. 270